Friday, May 5, 2017

Pat Simmons Jr. - This Mountain

Pat
Simmons Junior brings something of his own everyday life to his musical art.
His sense of social justice, commitment to the environment, and concern for his
fellow man comes through in each of the six songs on This Mountain. There’s
enormous finesse coming through as well. Each of the numbers are cut to an
ideal length and Simmons knows when to push certain elements while pulling back
on others. His voice comes in at the right places and he reveals himself to be
an exemplary singer with a deceptively wide range. The music primarily relies
on guitars, largely acoustic, but other instrumentation makes its presence felt
on a variety of cuts. This Mountain is an intimate effort, every song is full
of that presence that comes with a singer looking to unload their heart, but it
clearly looks to communicate as well and does so wonderfully.

“Up
and Out by Five” shows Simmons’ ability for taking common conversational speech
and stringing it together in a fresh way. It has a decidedly chipper air, much
like the idea driving the song, but there’s deeper meanings driving the lyrics
here for anyone to discern. Simmons conveys the sentiments with an immensely
artful touch. Blues comes to the fore on his track “Rust”. It has a much more
downcast musical tone than the first song, but the change isn’t jarring at all
as the song embraces many of the same strengths making the preceding track so
memorable. It’s admirable how he handles heavier emotions without ever leaving
the songs feeling somewhat lopsided. “Mauna Mele” is another example of that
talent at work. It probably possesses the ideal length of any song on This
Mountain and the immense likeability, thanks to its airiness and tempo, makes
it one of the EP’s standout numbers. Simmons stretches out some on the song “How
Many Years” and indulges his love for the blues in a more pronounced way, but
he never loses his touch despite the extended running time. There’s a strong
acoustic guitar presence in the song, existing higher in the mix, and Simmons
responds with a perfectly tailored singing job.

“Touch
the Ground” is, conversely, the EP’s shortest song. It also shows off more
electric guitar, by far, than any of the other songs and the instrument’s
presence never seems incongruous. Simmons gives audiences one of his loosest,
most charismatic vocals, but it never sparkles with the same presence that he
brings to the closer “All The Way”. He throws himself into this jazzier tune
with the same upswing to his phrasing that makes the opener so good. It’s a
low-key underlining of the EP’s virtues and a great final curtain without ever
being too heavy handed about it. This Mountain is about as good of a debut as
you could hope for and Patrick Simmons Jr. comes out swinging with a confidence
that’s quite impressive.

About Me

Student at University of Oregon. Persuing a degree in Jornalism and Marketing. Writing Intern for Indie Music Media LLC based out of Seattle, WA. I enjoy writing music reviews that are informative, honest and positive.